New Delhi: Terming Naxalism as the biggest threat to internal security, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh called for a single national policy to tackle the menace.

"For long, people believed that Naxalism was somehow different from terrorism but even they have come round to our belief that they are two sides of the same coin,” he said.

"To tackle Naxalism we need to overhaul our outlook on all fronts whether it is industrial, infrastructure development, our own thought process or the reaction Naxalism provokes in people," the Chief Minister said.

In a veiled attack on defenders of Maoism, he termed the sympathy given to Naxals as a "cruel joke". "Naxals have attacked schools, marriage processions, hospitals, ration shops and other public places and have killed babies, women and small children. They have even used villagers as human shields to make good their escape. To call them defenders of the rights of anyone in our society would only be a cruel joke," Singh said.

"No one should say anything that discourages our people. I would like to state unequivocally that Chhattisgarh is fighting the biggest battle for internal security in the entire nation today," he said.

The battles being fought in Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar and Naraynapur are not Chhattisgarh's alone, he said. "We are fighting those whose ultimate aim is to capture Delhi and the Red Fort through violence and power of the gun. It is a battle of democratic forces against perpetrators of violence," he said.